Steve Emtman was selected to the College Football Hall of Fame last week, and for those of us who saw this monster of a defensive tackle play at Washington, the honor was well deserved. Emtman led a defense that gave up only 67 rushing yards and 9.2 points a game in 1991, and the Huskies finished 12-0 and shared the national championship with Miami. The 6-foot-4, 300-pound Emtman was a brute who could run — he once completed a mile in 5:14 — and he had only 9% body fat. On Tuesdays during the season, the No. 1 defense would go head-to-head with the No. 1 offense. Greg Lewis, an All-Pacific 10 running back, explained what would happen. "In full-tilt drills, these battles would erupt that would nearly turn into brawls," Lewis said. "Emtman and the defensive guys would try to take our heads off. It was all we could do to get plays off for positive yards. Compared to Tuesday, the Saturday games were easy." Coach Don James, the Dawgfather, eventually had to cut the drills down to 10 minutes. "We had a saying we'd tell Emtman and the players for that drill: 'No winners or losers,' " James said. "I'm not sure they listened to that part." Emtman's NFL career was derailed by a series of injuries, including a tearing of his right knee. The injury was so horrific that Emtman reportedly found his kneecap in the middle of his quadriceps muscle.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Emtman Put the Bark and Bite Into Huskies
Steve Emtman was selected to the College Football Hall of Fame last week, and for those of us who saw this monster of a defensive tackle play at Washington, the honor was well deserved. Emtman led a defense that gave up only 67 rushing yards and 9.2 points a game in 1991, and the Huskies finished 12-0 and shared the national championship with Miami. The 6-foot-4, 300-pound Emtman was a brute who could run — he once completed a mile in 5:14 — and he had only 9% body fat. On Tuesdays during the season, the No. 1 defense would go head-to-head with the No. 1 offense. Greg Lewis, an All-Pacific 10 running back, explained what would happen. "In full-tilt drills, these battles would erupt that would nearly turn into brawls," Lewis said. "Emtman and the defensive guys would try to take our heads off. It was all we could do to get plays off for positive yards. Compared to Tuesday, the Saturday games were easy." Coach Don James, the Dawgfather, eventually had to cut the drills down to 10 minutes. "We had a saying we'd tell Emtman and the players for that drill: 'No winners or losers,' " James said. "I'm not sure they listened to that part." Emtman's NFL career was derailed by a series of injuries, including a tearing of his right knee. The injury was so horrific that Emtman reportedly found his kneecap in the middle of his quadriceps muscle.
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1 comment:
ahh, taking me back to the glory days...if only I could say that now.
Go Dawgs!
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